Back to the Wall
by Kalyxia
Summary: When SG-1 turn up on a planet where there isn't a stargate but Vala has been to there before she has some serious explaining to do
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I still don't own SG-1 or the Old Kingdom series by GarthNix

A/N: I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that I haven't updated anything in well over a month but I managed to accidently pick up a Trojan Virus from a fic in the Labyrinth archive nad had to wait for the new PC to arrive before I could post anything andI promise that I will begin to update my other fictions again soon.

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SG-1 stepped through the event horizon from the SGC out into a city which was covered in dense smog. The gate suddenly vanished behind them with no visible cause. But given that they could barely breathe in this smog let alone see a metre away from them it wasn't surprising that no one saw the gate disappear. One of them knew the country well, it was Ancelstierre and combined with the smog knew they must be in Corvere. She had spent most of her school years there- attending Wyverly College like both her aunt and her cousin had before her. She soon realised that they were in fact only a few streets away from the Old Kingdom Embassy.

"Is anyone else having a problem seeing anything?" asked Daniel

"Now why would you think that Jackson?" grumped Cam sarcastically

"This is known as smog or miasmic fog, depending on what you read and it's very dangerous so we need to get out of it as soon as possible, as it so happens I know a safe place a few streets away from here" said Vala  
"Wait, you've been here before and you didn't say anything ?" coughed Daniel

"Right now it's more important to get out of this smog before we all get pneumonia" After hearing what the smog could do to them the rest of SG-1 all shambled after her quickly making their way to their destination. Vala wished that they had appeared at Wyverly, the College or even Bain at least that way she could've conjured a Charter light but here she couldn't even sense the Charter at all.

The Embassy itself was housed in the same mansion it had been when her aunt was negotiating with Corolini and his 'Our Country' party years ago. It was Daniel who knocked on the large and imposing doors; which were answered by a stern looking man.

"Who are you?" he demanded "What is your connection to the Old Kingdom?"

"We don't have one but I'm sure we could set up trade links with our planet. We are peaceful explorers" the man went to close the door

"Wait!" Vala came forward from the back of the group, the stern man froze

"It, you, you cannot be" he muttered

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A/N: As usual all reviews and falmes are welcome : ) 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Still not mine

A/N: I know what cliffies are like so I thought I'd be kind and also to make up for the month of no updates that I'd post the next chapter aswell

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"Well I am, you can test my charter mark if you want, I know I would like to test yours before my friends and I go anywhere" He nodded, she reached out with two fingers and touched his forehead, a mark appeared and it momentarily flashed with golden fire which seemed to be a good thing though the rest of SG-1 weren't sure why. Then the man reached out with two fingers like Vala had and touched her forehead where a mark similar to his appeared that oddly enough none of the team had noticed before but hers burned even brighter and for longer. Since SG-1 walked through the door ahead of their team mate they didn't notice the man bowing to her as she passed.

Inside they were led up a grand stair case very much like the ones they would've found in stately homes back on Earth they soon reached a sort of study with a large dark wooden desk in the corner, most of SG-1 were thoroughly confused, especially since Vala seemed to know exactly what was going on which never usually turned out well for any of them. She sat down at the desk and began writing with the quill and ink that were already there. When Daniel leaned over her shoulder he saw she was writing a telegram.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing Daniel?"

"Ok what was that all about back there?"

"I can't explain right now. I promise I will but not here, it's not safe so once I've sent this message to certain people we'll be taking a car to the Wall stopping at Wyverly College on the Way, then we'll ride to the house and then fly by paperwing to Belisaere.

"What?"

"Just trust me Daniel" He roughly grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her round so that she was facing him

"Vala, what is going on!" she was almost in tears by this point and he realised that this whole thing must be pretty hard for her too but he had to get some answers

"All I can say is that we need to get out of this country as fast as we can, it's not safe here. Now I'm not saying that the place we're going is any safer but at least there are people there that will help us and I'll know and hopefully be able to defeat whatever we come up against but right now there are people in this country that will not hesitate to kill me just because I come from the Old Kingdom and am, well I have some powerful friends there. Which is why as soon as I've finished this telegram we're going to take a car to Wyverly College and then to the Wall." Daniel nodded and let her finish her telegram, when she had she called for the stern man

"Right, this is the message you're to give to a message hawk. You know who to send it to?" He nodded

"Good, is the car ready?"

"It is waiting for you on the street"

"Thank-you" SG-1 filed out after Vala, still dumbstruck at their situation until Sam spoke up

"Why don't we just go back through the gate?"

"Because as far as I know this planet, not even my country, which is full of rather odd things, has a gate, so I don't even know how we got here especially since the Goa'ould never discovered us"

"Then how did you become a host?"

"I was experimenting with something I shouldn't have been and it went kind of wrong"

"How long is this journey going to take?"

"Which part?"

"All of it"

"Well Cameron, I should think that the journey to Wyverly and then to the Wall should only be a few hours, the ride as much as 4 days depending on what we encounter and the flight maybe a day or slightly longer if we have to go to the glacier first"

"Of what glacier do you speak Vala Mal Doran?"

"Well Belisaere is the capital but everyone who needs to meet us there may not be there when the message arrives and I can't guarantee that they will have their own transport so we might need to pick them up on the way, it's not that far away from Belisaere, at least not by Paperwing" Before any of them could ask what a Paperwing was their friend had already got in the car that was waiting for them.

Within a few uneventful hours they had reached Wyverly College, it was then that Daniel realised what had been bugging him

"Why exactly are we doing here? Why aren't we going straight to this house?"

"Because Daniel this should be where certain items are and without these items we will have almost no chance of survival in the Borderlands. The items should be here because this is where they were when I disappeared."

"Then wouldn't they have sent your things back to your friends or family?"

"No because I had and still do have habit a vanishing so they soon realised that the chances were that if I disappeared I had just got into a bit of trouble so when I came back I would go to the last place I had been to look for these items and it soon became normal for them to leave the items wherever I left them which in this case is here. Oh by the way you might as well leave the guns in the car, the wind's blowing from the north and we're only about forty miles away so they won't work but we'll pick up some more useful weapons at the perimeter crossing point from the border scouts." Cam tried to fire his P-90 to see if it was some kind of joke but the gun jammed, Sam, Cam, Teal'c and Daniel couldn't believe it, their state of the art fully automatic sub-machine guns were useless. They chucked the guns in back in to the car then had to run to catch up with Vala as she was already at the large metal and wire gates pushing them to see if they were open. She found that they weren't and began form the marks for unlocking and opening in her head letting them flow from her mind in to the gate but she didn't notice the others approaching as she was forming the marks. However they did notice the golden symbols that flowed from her hand to the gate which suddenly unlocked itself and swung inwards.

"What was that?"

"What was what Sam?"

"Those golden symbols that went in to the gates from your hand"

"Nothing, probably just a trick of the light, you can never tell this close to the Wall" she laughed nervously before striding on towards the doors of what seemed to be a castle of sorts or a manor. They soon reached the door which looked like it belonged to a medieval castle.

This time Vala didn't mysteriously open the doors she knocked instead, though Daniel was quite shocked to learn that she did actually know how to knock on doors. The door was answered by an elderly woman with wispy white hair pulled back into a bun who was wearing something that appeared to be half way between a dress, a tunic and robes like a priest's. The woman looked shocked to say the least as she drew Vala into a large hug.

"Magistrix Grayel it's so good to see you again"

"It is equally good to see you but I hope you haven't been experimenting with mixing Charter magic with free magic again"

"Nope, I've decided to leave that sort of thing to Sameth, he's much better at it than I am but then he is a Wallmaker"

"And you're the Abhorsen-in–waiting so don't put yourself down"

"Okay ,I won't. Are my things still here?"

"Yes they have been stored in the library"

"Thank-you, I hope to see you again soon"

"I hope you will" Vala smiled and nodded at the woman and then walked past her letting SG-1 catch up as she hurried off down a corridor. There were an awful lot of doors they went through the 5th door on the right and emerged into a large room that was stacked up to the ceiling with book shelves that were all packed to bursting point. The team, though bewildered, followed their friend, bearing in mind that if they didn't they would most likely not find their way out again with the number of turns they were taking until they reached a small alcove and were shocked at the sight that greeted them. In the small alcove was a longsword that had symbols gliding across it. Next to it hanging off a nail was a bandoleer that contained seven bells varying in size; the smallest was about the size of a pill box and the largest about the size of a clenched fist, behind that there was a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Also there were four books, one seemed to be bound in green leather and bound with silver clasps, another was smaller and bound in a blue leather and also had silver clasps then there was a small book that appeared to be a sort of diary that was bound in brown leather and the last seemed to be covered in some sort of fur or hide. Lastly was a set of armour that consisted of a cuirass that looked like it was made of hundreds of tiny overlapping scales possibly made out of a type of ceramic, thick boots, trousers and a surcoat in dark blue dusted with embroidered silver keys.

"Is this what we came here for?" asked Daniel incredulously "A sword, some old armour, a few books and some bells?"

"If we encounter certain creatures in my country then these bells will be the things that save your lives"

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Thank you to acer-sigma who's already reviewed the first chapter and it's only been up like 5 minutes 

A/N :All reviews amd flames welcome : )


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I was planning to update thisa few days ago but I had some issues trying to convert the document from Miicrosoft Word to Microsoft Works 

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"Is this what we came here for?" asked Daniel incredulously "A sword, some old armour, a few books and some bells?"

"If we encounter certain creatures in my country then these bells will be the things that save your lives"

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"Bells?"

"Bells Daniel"

"Alright you are going to tell us what is going on right now!"

"Daniel I said I would tell you when we reached the house and we're not at the house yet so I'm not telling you until we reach the house so tough. Anyway there's no point even mentioning the armour, in my country this is the kind of armour that will save you so when we reach the crossing point you'll all be getting swords, bows and armour"

"What about bells?" asked Sam

"No, not bells"

"You said that the bells would be what would save our lives" cut in Daniel

"None of you are trained to use them"

"Can't you train us?"

"No I can't Daniel; I only finished my studies and training a few months before I disappeared, with barely any actual field experience. And anyway only certain people can open the book with the right information in"

"We can't?"

"No, most people in my country wouldn't be able to open it either."

"And you can?"

"Yes"

"Why?"

"What? Why does it matter Daniel?"

"It matters because I want to know what is going on here, NOW!"

"Fine Daniel" said Vala through the tears that were forming in her eyes "The truth is that I'm the heir to the throne in my country, I'm also the one who when my mother dies, if not sooner, that will be able to protect my country from the dead"

"The dead, what is this some kind of horror movie?"

"Something like that, there are many types of dead, lesser, greater, mordicants, shadow hands, gore crows etc. The bells let me cross into death and banish the dead spirits beyond the ninth gate, to final death. Only two people can do this at once, the Abhorsen and the Abhorsen-in-Waiting. As for why I can open the book I have an innate talent for Free Magic and I can close it because I'm an uncorrupted Charter Mage that is descended from the Great Charters"

"Great Charters?"

"'_Five Great Charters knit the land,_

_Together linked, hand in hand, _

_One in the people who wear the crown,_

_Two in the folk who keep the dead down, _

_Three and Five became stone and mortar,_

_Four sees all in frozen water_' One is the royal family, my cousins and my uncle, Two is the Abhorsens, my mother, my aunt, my late grandfather and I, Three and Five are the Wallmakers, my cousin Sameth and Four is the Clayr, my late grandmother and my great Aunt"

"Okay, now the Bells"

"I've already said what they do Daniel, the smallest bell is Ranna – the Sleeper, then Mosreal-the Waker, Kibeth – the Walker, Dyrim- the Speaker, Belgaer-the Thinker, Saraneth- the Binder and the largest is Astareal- The Weeper."

"Anything else you'd like to tell us?"

"Well, there's one other thing…" she was cut off by a screech that came from a few metres away. It was a woman in similar clothes to the ones that the woman at the door had been wearing she looked to be about twenty years older than Vala. 

"Kyrael!" screeched the strange woman

"Ellimere!" Vala ran to Ellimere hugging her as hard as she possibly could, to SG-1 there seemed to be an almost sisterly bond between them, not to mention a resemblance, possibly a family resemblance.

"We'd almost given up hope of ever seeing you again"

"Sayres are tougher than you might think, especially when they're also an Abhorsen" admitted Vala. The family moment was broken when Daniel noisily cleared his throat and then when he had everyone's attention he raised his eyebrow

"Oh, right, Ellimere this is Lt. Col Samantha Carter PhD, Lt. Col Cameron Mitchell, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, all members of SG-1, SG-1 this is my cousin Ellimere, Queen of the Old Kingdom."

"Pleased to meet you all, I hope my cousin has not caused you too much trouble"

"Thank you very much for the faith in me Ellimere"

"You're very welcome"

"Hmphh"

"Well it's not like you don't get into a lot of trouble, remember when you brought Kibeth down here with you?"

"Yes I remember"

"I remember your father being pretty angry at you and your mother trying not to laugh"

"It wasn't strictly my fault, I told Kibeth that she wasn't allowed to go out when I wasn't there and not if there was anybody else around but she decided to out exploring anyway"

"Yes, but you're the one who snuck her down here in the first place"

"You know what she's like"

"If you mean like you then I definitely know what you mean"

"I am nothing like Kibeth"

"Well I seem to remember your mother thinking you were related"

"Well that's not true" Ellimere just laughed.

"Actually it is, after the battle with the destroyer, Kibeth brought Nick back to life using her own blood so as Nick's daughter you are technically related to her"

"WHAT" she squeaked as Ellimere just started laughing again.

"Who is this Kibeth you speak of?" asked Teal'c

"Kibeth is one of the great charters, the third bell is named after her" started Vala before she was cut off by Ellimere

"But more recently she has been a servant and friend of the Clayr and the Abhorsen, more specifically my Aunt, Lirael Goldenhand and then to my cousin here Kyrael. All in the form known as the disreputable dog" it was then that SG-1 realised what was so funny and why their friend was so indignant about being related to Kibeth. 

"I take it that the one other thing you wanted to tell us was this?" asked Daniel harshly

"Sort of"

"What you mean there's more? What else have you lied about hmm! I mean you didn't even tell us your real name!" yelled Daniel, Ellimere seldom lost her temper but now was one of those times as she whipped out her sword that no one had noticed sheathed at her side. The blade rested against Daniel's throat, close enough that with the smallest flick of her wrist she could easily cut his throat killing him in the process.

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A/N: All reviews and Flames welcome : ) 


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Nope still not mine( unfortunately)

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"What you mean there's more? What else have you lied about hmm?! I mean you didn't even tell us your real name!" yelled Daniel, Ellimere seldom lost her temper but now was one of those times as she whipped out her sword that no one had noticed sheathed at her side. The blade rested against Daniel's throat, close enough that with the smallest flick of her wrist she could easily cut his throat killing him in the process.

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"Ellimere there's no need for the sword so you can put it away now."

She reluctantly re-sheathed her charter spelled sword, she couldn't believe that this stranger who seemed to know her cousin was insulting said cousin even though he knew that he was in the presence of a Queen but more importantly that he was insulting her cousin in front of HER!, surely he must've known that she would be protective of her baby cousin.

"I take it you're headed for the House then the glacier and Belisaere?"

"Yes, we'd already sent you a telegram by message hawk; I don't suppose that anyone else is at the House?"

"Why?"

"Well we were planning to get to the glacier and Belisaere by paperwing before I remembered that a paperwing only fits two people and cargo"

"Luckily I think that Sameth is there as is Arielle, while it's the holidays at least"

"Holidays?"

"She's been teaching at Sunbere for a while now"

"She always was like dad, fascinated with science"

"Actually she's also teaching music and astronomy"

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Exactly who is Arielle?" asked Sam

"Arielle is my younger sister, she's 8 years younger than me" then Daniel spoke up again

"Wouldn't the crown normally pass from sibling to sibling, parent to child etc. not from cousin to cousin?"

"About a year after the battle with the Destroyer I realised that given the way that my brother Sameth and I tend to completely focus on one thing at a time that he would be focused on making new charter spelled items namely our Aunt's hand and I would be focused on running the country so it was doubtful that either of us would marry or have families so I made a law that said that the crown would go to the first born child of each generation of the royal family which was Kyrael, since her mother and I are only a few months apart in age she was technically the next generation. If there are no children born then the crown will pass to the last monarch's next of kin"

"Wait so that means that…"

"I'm well aware of what that means Daniel" interrupted Kyrael

"Is your cousin?"

"Daniel, don't"

"Am I aware of what?"

"Nothing Ellimere, Daniel was just being unhelpful, and we really need to head to the wall as soon as possible"

"I take it that there's a car outside"

"Yep" With that they all trooped out of the library after Ellimere and Kyrael who now also had the items from the alcove in her hands. It was another hour before they reached the wall. When the Perimeter scouts saw who was approaching they immediately opened up the barriers and (at Kyrael's request) escorted them to the training area. After over and hour of training Sam, Daniel, Cam and Teal'c had all been given weapons, Sam had a bow and a small dagger for emergencies as did Daniel, Cam and Teal'c both had swords and small daggers, Ellimere had all three and Kyrael had all three as well as her bells though that latter 2 had their own charter spelled swords, daggers and bows that were vastly superior to those that the others were using. It was a sorely tired group that set off from the wall the next day towards the long cliffs and Abhorsen's House. They reached Bahedrin before the first incident occurred. As the group approached Bahedrin hill as soon as they reached the base of the hill both Kyrael and Ellimere felt a familiar prickling that Lirael used to describe as a sort of itching sensation as the base of the neck. To any with the blood, necromancers and most free magic creatures the sensation was very familiar, it was the sense of death, something had died in the area recently. The two cousins immediately un-sheathed their swords and Kyrael's free hand went to her bells.

"What is it?" asked Sam

"Something dead"

"I think it's either one of the greater dead maybe a mordicant or it could be a very strong shadow hand I can't tell"

"One of the greater dead, already?!"

"I think so which means we need to move NOW!"

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A/N: All reviews and flames welcome : )


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: nope not mine

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"What is it?" asked Sam

"Something dead"

"I think it's either one of the greater dead maybe a mordicant or it could be a very strong shadow hand I can't tell"

"One of the greater dead, already?!"

"I think so which means we need to move NOW!"

"What is a mordicant?"

"Well…"

"Vala!?"

"First off Cameron now that you know my real name I would appreciate it if you could use it, Second of all a mordicant is a very powerful tracker of sorts made of human blood, a dead spirit and free magic that will track us and try to catch up with us, it won't leave us alone until it has killed it's target"

"Who is the intended target of the attack?"

"Most likely me or Ellimere, though it depends on who knows that I'm back in the country and that Ellimere has also crossed back over the Wall"

"What course of action would be appropriate to take in dealing with this enemy?"

"There's only one way to deal with it, I would have to banish it beyond the ninth gate but I've never actually dealt with a mordicant before and this is a particularly strong one.

"And how exactly do you banish it?" asked Daniel

"I would have to go into death and walk it to the ninth gate, Ellimere will guide you through what to do if the mordicant gets closer but for now Ellimere and I will cast a diamond of protection, while I'm in death I'll appear to be frozen, don't touch me unless you have to, anything else just ask Ellimere" Ellimere and Kyrael both used their swords to cast the four cardinal marks in turn until the lines of golden fire ran between them then Kyrael stood in a defensive stance and with her mind felt for the border between life and death.

She soon found herself stood in a river that had current whipping round her feet trying to pull her under, surrounded by the dull grey light of a poor quality that was the best light you would ever get in death. She stood waiting for the mordicant knowing it wouldn't be long before it sensed that her spirit was in death. Within moments a dark shape that seemed to be composed entirely of burst up from the water. She fumbled for the bells she needed but neither Kibeth or Saraneth seemed to want to come free from their leather pouches. Just as the mordicant lunged for her she stumbled backwards the movement freed Saraneth which let out a long, pure and clear note despite the jarring swing she had made with it. It rang long enough to bind the mordicant to her will so that she could wrestle Kibeth from it's pouch, preferably without ringing it and risking sending her self to the ninth gate instead.

It was several hours before she emerged from death, well several hours to her companions, it felt like days to her.

"Where'd it go?" asked Cam

"Beyond the ninth gate, where it belongs"

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A/N: All flames, consrtuctive criticism and review welcome :)


	6. Chapter 6

DIsclaimer:Unfortunately not mine

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"Where'd it go?" asked Cam

"Beyond the ninth gate, where it belongs"

They started walking down the ridge behind the charter stone and soon as the sky began to fill with stars they followed Uallus to the mile marker that they were looking for. Sometime between the mile marker and the steps that were cut into the long cliffs themselves Kyrael had begun to weaken until just as they reached the steps she collapsed in a dead faint, Daniel gently lifted her up, knowing that there was no other way that they were going to get her up the steps

"Why did she faint?" he asked Ellimere as they climbed the steps

"While it may have seemed to us that she was only in death for a few hours since time in death is warped we don't know how long it was to her, nor do we know what transpired between her and the mordicant, except that she was not wounded.."

"How do you know she wasn't wounded?"

"Unlike most Dead the mordicant carries both it's physical body and it's spirit into death and a wound from the dead festers quickly, we would have smelt it if she had been wounded. Though she was not wounded we still don't know how much of her energy was spent fighting the mordicant or how much she used to keep the mordicant bound to her will, especially if she personally walked it to the ninth gate. That's not including the Free Magic spells she had to use which can be very dangerous to the caster. Even with out the danger they are supposedly very draining"

"Supposedly?"

"My mother my have been the Abhorsen but that was never my destiny so I have never had the need to walk in death until it is my time to pass beyond the ninth gate"

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A/N:All flames, constructive criticism and reviews welcome


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